1. Field of the Invention p This invention relates to books, stripes and leaves and more particularly to book or leaf holders for holding a flexible document.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various devices have been devised for holding a document which enables visual inspection of the document when the document is secured to the holding device. Springboards, clipboards and various variations thereof have been known to the prior art for a number of years. To further aid the protection of the document, some in the prior art have used a substantially transparent material to overlay the document while the document was secured to the springboard or clipboard. Others in the prior art have developed transparent containers for protecting the document while enabling visual inspection thereof. These containers have been made of rigid and flexible plastic materials with various types of closures for securing the document within the container.
For a number of reasons, the aforementioned containers have not found widespread use in the art. In general, these devices were constructed of a number of parts which required assembly to produce the container device. A further disadvantage of these prior art devices was the lack of means for enabling the observer to make notations on the surface of the document while simultaneously providing a writing surface for the notation. In most of the prior art devices, the document would have to be entirely removed or exposed from the holding device and placed on a writing surface in order to make notations. The document would then be reinserted into the holder. In many applications such as an open cockpit of a marine craft, the document could be damaged by water spray while the document was removed from the container. Finally, these prior art devices did not provide means for enabling the visual inspection of both sides of the document contained therein.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the document art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document comprising a first and a second member each having a substantially planar central region interposed between end regions with the end regions forming end containers for receiving rolled portions of the flexible document while the planar central region protects an intermediate portion of the flexible document.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document wherein the first and second members are slideably mounted relative to one another for allowing access to either side of the document for making notations thereon while simultaneously providing a writing surface for the notations.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document comprising a planar slide in one end of the first and second members and a groove cooperable with the slides in the other end of the first and second members for slideably mounting the first and second members relative to one another.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document wherein each of the first and second members is a unitary transparent plastic structure substantially identical to one another with a groove at one end thereof and a slide at the other end thereof with the grooves being cooperable with the slides for slideably mounting the first member relative to the second member.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document having open cylindrical end containers for enabling rotation of the rolled portion of the flexible document to index the flexible document relative to the polar planar central region of the device.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document with a first and a second logarithmic scale on the first and second members respectively for enabling slide rule calculations upon movement of the first member relative to the second member.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device for holding a flexible document in combination with the transparent plastic compass dial or a distance scale which may be secured to either one of the first or second members by electrostatic atttraction.
Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the description and the claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.